Studying math in a foreign language

Let me start by saying that I never forget where my immigrant students in Tucson come from or what their struggles have been and still are...but let me also say that reminders are essential, experiences of stepping into another person's shoes are critical, in terms of really having the empathy and of developing the skills to work with others effectively.  I spend so much time talking with content-area (math, science, social studies...) teachers about how to work with English Language Learners (ELLs), but it has been a while since I have had a student's experience of what it is like to try to study these subjects in a language with which you have only basic familiarity.  The other day, I attended a math class taught in Indonesian (of course) and it was so eye-opening.  Below are some excerpts from the notes I scribbled in my notebook as the lesson was being taught:

"...able to follow bits and pieces, but I missed the opening and so I don't know the real focus...and this all looks familiar, though I don't recall it fully nor understand its application, so I'm lost...How must our immigrant students feel during their math lessons at Catalina?!"

"...as I watch the 2nd example, I'm starting to get it - sort of - but that's because I've studied this before and in my native language..."

The conclusions I can draw from this experience are that: (1) math is truly it's own language and that discipline-specific vocabulary MUST be taught in order to one to enter into the math world; (2) students with interrupted formal education - such as many of our refugee students - are at a severe disadvantage in any content-area class in that they have no reference for what they are learning, no experience of it in a language or culture which they understand and now they have to try to learn it in English?!...no small task!; (3) teachers must provide clear objectives to all students - it really helps to know exactly what you are studying, what the goals of that study are, and what the applications (or uses) for that knowledge are; and finally (4) the more examples and guided practice one provides, the better chance there is that students struggling with both ideas and language will get it.

None of this is new, I know, but it was a truly profound experience to sit in a class in which I knew that I should know the material and be able to figure it out based on the few words I could catch (numbers I know and there are some cognates I could work with) and my background knowledge and still feel completely lost.  How differently might everyone teach if they could have these experiences too, and on a regular basis lest we forget the actual feeling and fail to empathize and then adjust to meet and support a student as needed.

Ms. Esmina teaching something about mode, median, mean, quartiles, and so on...She's fabulous, by the way, and the students were totally with her...I being the only exception :-)